[caption id="attachment_10598" align="alignleft" width="290"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1724 " title="Awards in Surgical Technology" alt="Awards in Surgical Technology" src="http://news.sjvc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Screen-Shot-2013-10-07-at-9.04.36-AM-290x290.png" width="290" height="290" /> The Surgical Program received this award for maintaining a pass rate of twenty to thirty percent better than the national average.[/caption]

The Fresno Campus’ <a title="Surgical Technology program" href="http://www.sjvc.edu/surgical-technology/" target="_blank">Surgical Technology</a> program is on a roll. This is the third year that their ST program has been recognized by the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assistants with a Merit Award for an over 90% pass rate for its graduates who took the certification exam.

“Our student-centered approach creates a lot of discovery and interaction among student groups, instead of traditional instructor-dependent learning, which has the instructor in front of the class lecturing,” says Teri Junge, ST Program Director. “We reinforce what students learn from their reading and homework, rather than have them hear it for the first time in class.”

Exam pass rates back up this education model for <a title="SJVC Fresno" href="http://www.sjvc.edu/fresno/" target="_blank">Fresno SJVC</a> Surg. Tech. graduates:
<ul>
	<li>8/01/2012 -7/31/2013  21 of 22 graduates passed certification exam for a  <b>95% pass rate</b></li>
	<li>8/01/2011-7/31/2012   18 of 20 graduates passed certification exam for a  <b>90% pass rate</b></li>
	<li>8/01/2010-7/31/2011     9 of  9  graduates passed certification exam for a <b>100% pass rate</b></li>
</ul>
This 3-year run of high pass rates is especially impressive when compared to the NBSTSA’s National average of 70%.

“We’ve done really well the last few years,” says Junge. “Our ST students got a lot more involved and there was greater focus on review classes.”

Graduates obtaining national certification as a Certified Surgical Technologist (CST) demonstrate during their exam the basic competencies for safe patient care in the operating room.  NBSTSA certification is widely recognized in the health care community as the foremost credential for surgical technologists in the nation. Certification is required for employment within many local, state and national health care organizations.

Fresno campus’s graduating STs are riding the wave of a strong program coupled with successful certification exam preparation. Graduates and the communities they will serve can only benefit.